OpenAI Stargate Project Faces Threats from Iranian Military

War in the Middle East is placing data centre infrastructure under direct pressure, with AI facilities and power systems emerging as exposed assets.

A US$30bn OpenAI data centre project in the UAE has become a focal point after it was referenced in a video by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which threatens "complete and utter annihilation".

It is not the first time that data centre infrastructure in the Middle East has been targeted, following reports by the Financial Times on 2 April that Iran missiles hit an AWS cloud site in Bahrain.

The warning to the OpenAI data centre project follows an ultimatum from US President Donald Trump over the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane for global energy and equipment supply chains for data centres.

In a White House press conference, Trump stated: "We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again."

He added that in the event of severe bombing, "it will take them [Iran] 100 years to rebuild".

AI infrastructure in the cross hairs

The IRGC video places emphasis on energy and digital systems that underpin hyperscale data centres.

Brigadier General Ebrahim Zolfaghari says: "Should the USA proceed with its threats concerning Iran’s power plant facilities the following retaliatory measures shall be promptly enacted.

“All power plants, energy infrastructure and information and communications technology of the Zionist regime and all similar companies within the region that have American shareholders shall face complete and utter annihilation.”

The footage then shows a night vision view of the Stargate facility in the UAE with the caption: "Nothing stays hidden to our sight, though hidden by Google."

Outages expose dependency on cloud regions

Earlier in March, attacks attributed to the IRGC impacted Amazon Web Services facilities in the Middle East.

One site experienced fire damage, with AWS confirming that "one of our Availability Zones (mec1-az2) was impacted by objects that struck the data centre, creating sparks and fire". 

Disruption spread as millions of users in Dubai and Abu Dhabi faced outages that affected payments, ride-hailing and mobile banking.

These services rely on cloud platforms hosted in regional data centres, where applications and data are processed and stored. When a zone or region is impaired, downstream platforms can lose access to compute resources or databases, leading to cascading service failure.

Data centre ambitions under pressure

The conflict challenges a regional strategy that positions the Middle East as a global hub for AI and cloud. Investment in data centres and fibre networks, which are high-capacity cables that transmit data between facilities and across borders, underpins this ambition.

Sean Gorman, CEO of Zephr.xyz and a contractor to the US Air Force, says: "UAE and Bahrain have both been positioning themselves as global AI hubs by investing heavily in data centres and fibre infrastructure.

"If they can disrupt that infrastructure, it puts their strategic position under risk while also disrupting operations that are important to the economy."

Sean also pointed to risks beyond direct strikes, including cyber and sabotage risks to the dense clusters of subsea cables landing at Fujairah on the UAE’s east coast. The cluster forms a geographic chokepoint that connects regional data centres to the wider internet.

These cables carry international traffic that supports cloud services and enterprise systems. Disruption through sabotage or cyber activity can sever connectivity and degrade service performance.

The situation places focus on site selection and network diversity, as geopolitical risk intersects with the physical footprint of digital infrastructure.